The Twelve Days of Christmas
by cjh4ever
Summary: Someone is sending Jack anonymous gifts of birds in trees. What is going on? Will Ianto be able to cope? Can Gwen make sense of what's happening? New chapter every day until Epiphany.
1. 25 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

25 December

Jack Harkness stood on the raised platform that formed the work area of the Torchwood base and looked out across the wide, open space to the armoury and above it the hothouse. He smiled. It had been a lot of work but now it was perfect.

Every railing in the place was adorned with thick tinsel and ropes of lights, shining brightly in the subdued lighting. The large Christmas tree stood to the right of the space in a special area of its own, the lights on a cycle of changing colours which reflected off the grey walls. Underneath the tree rested a small selection of presents, wrapped in gaily patterned paper in various shades of red and green. A table and chairs were set up beside the tree, with crockery and cutlery laid out for two. In front of the armoury, obscuring the glass wall through which one could usually see the Torchwood weaponry, was a nativity scene. The figures had been carved in Bavaria nearly a century earlier and were half life-sized: they looked superb on the tiered platform. On the wall of the hothouse above was a laser light show with various changing Christmas scenes involving lots of snow. The entire Hub was bright and brash, just like the man who had created the display.

Rubbing his dirty hands on his trousers, Jack went to the office and through the hatch into his compact quarters. A shower and clean clothes were all that was needed. Well, until his guest arrived.

At eleven o'clock, Jack was back in the work area. Carols now played softly and he sang along trying to keep calm as he paced back and forth. Ianto Jones was due any minute. Their first Christmas Day together as a couple was about to begin. Jack could hardly contain his excitement. An unexpected noise drew him back to the office and he picked up the mobile, his heart sinking to his boots when he saw the caller ID.

"Ianto, Merry Christmas!" he said as jovially as he could. Was Ianto going to call off their celebration? Had he decided to stay with his sister after all? Had he drunk too much the night before? Was he ill? All these thoughts went through Jack's mind as he waiting to hear the familiar Welsh voice.

"_Merry Christmas. Jack, what's going on?" _

"What? It's Christmas, Ianto, that's what's going on. You know, you come here and we sing carols and get presents and drink a lot and eat a - "

"_I meant on the lift,"_ interrupted Ianto.

"The lift?"

"_The invisible lift," _repeated Ianto with commendable patience.

"What about the lift?" Jack moved round his desk to the PC and clicked through some icons to bring up the CCTV from Roald Dahl Plass above him. "Oh." Pause. "Did you bring that?" he asked with a smile in his voice.

"_No I didn't!" _

"Perhaps someone forgot it," went on Jack, anxious to get Ianto into the Hub. "You look nice. Like the hat."

The image on the screen showed Ianto dressed in a warm woollen coat standing by the water tower, mobile to his ear and a canvas shopping bag in his other gloved hand. On his head was a red pointed hat trimmed with white fur. He felt a complete idiot but knew Jack liked him in red and it was Christmas after all. Before him, and the object of his undivided attention, was a tree standing on the paving stone that formed the top of a lift down into the underground Hub. The perception filter made anything on that particular stone invisible but, used to it as he was, Ianto had no trouble in seeing through it.

"_The tree, Jack, focus on the tree."_ Ianto took a pace forward, put his bag on the ground, and used that hand to reach for a label hanging from a branch. _"It's got your name on it," _he said when he'd read the glittery letters.

"Really!" shouted Jack. "Someone left a present for me! Jump on the lift and I'll bring you down." He closed his mobile.

He waited very impatiently for Ianto to squeeze onto the paving stone beside the tree and then activated the lift bringing it down into the Hub. Running out into the main Hub, he took the sloping steps down past the base of the water tower and skidded to a stop. Looking up he could see foliage and the figure of Ianto as the lift gradually drew nearer and nearer until it clunked into place.

"There's a bird in the tree," said Ianto, making a fast exit from the slab to stand by Jack. "Fat thing."

"Wow, a present." Jack spared a few seconds to gaze at the tree in awe, trying to remember the last time he had received an unexpected gift, before throwing his arms round Ianto and hugging him tight. "I'm so pleased you came," he whispered into the other man's ear.

"I said I would. Now will you let me go, I'd like to breathe again."

Releasing him, Jack, grinning from ear to ear, took one gloved hand and pulled him into the middle of the space. "What do you think? Good, huh? See the nativity, that's for you 'cos I know you like them. And the lights, d'you like those? And the music? I've got all the carols. Oh, come here." Excited as a child, he dragged Ianto towards the cog door and placed him carefully under the basketball hoop from which hung a large ball of mistletoe. "Time for a kiss." Jack's eager lips latched onto Ianto's and he comprehensively kissed the younger man.

"Okay, okay," said Ianto, several minutes later, when he managed to get away. "There's lots of time for that later." He extricated himself from Jack's arms and straightened his coat and hat, glad he'd left his bag by the lift. "Right now, I want to know about this tree. Do you think it's all right? Not a bomb or anything?"

"Sensors would have picked up if it was a bomb." Jack was serenely confident, too happy to be shaken from his good mood. "How did you know it was for me?" He walked back towards it as Ianto stopped to remove his coat and gloves and place them on the half-moon bench before following.

"There's a label."

"Oh yeah." Jack hefted the tree off the lift and placed in by the curved outer wall out of the way. "_For Captain Jack Harkness, with sincere gratitude_," he read. "Doesn't say who it's from."

Ianto was now standing beside him again, examining the tree in more detail. "I've never seen a tree like this before. The leaves are very thin. And what's that bird?" He pointed to a fat fowl sitting on an inner branch.

"It's a fruit tree. Loads of them all over the galaxy. Not seen one on Earth before," he admitted thoughtfully.

"It's alien?"

"Umm, but not dangerous." He reached a hand to the bird which cheeped once and climbed onto his wrist. "Hello, what's your name?" The bird put its head on one side and surveyed Jack, one eye open and one eye closed.

"Maybe we should run some tests," suggested Ianto.

"Nonsense! It's harmless, you can see that. Besides, it's Christmas Day and we have so much to do." The accompanying leer spoke volumes. "Time to open our presents!" He put the bird back in the tree and grabbed Ianto's hand, pulling him to the Christmas tree.

The rest of the day passed in a long round of fun for the two men as they opened presents, drank, ate a meal Jack had prepared, played silly games, watched television – including The Queen – and then made love. Neither of them gave any more thought to the strange gift … other than Ianto who put some food out for the bird when he fed Myfanwy.

* * *

_More tomorrow ..._


	2. 26 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

26 December

The Rift had given the Torchwood team a gift on Christmas Day; it had not opened to let through, or take, anything or anybody. This had allowed Ianto and Jack a complete day together and an uninterrupted night's sleep. With Gwen still on leave – spending the holiday with her parents - they prolonged the unexpected boon by taking breakfast back to Jack's quarters and, afterwards, staying in bed for an extended lie-in. Eventually the narrowness of the bunk and Jack's pent up energy encouraged them to get up and they washed and dressed. It was almost midday when they stood in the work area, sipping mugs of coffee, and checked the monitors and police reports for alien activity.

"Jack," called Ianto from his new desk, the one which had been Toshiko's until a few months before. "You won't believe this."

"What?" He scooted over in his chair from the neighbouring desk, the one which had been Owen's, pleased to have a reason to be close to Ianto again. The past twenty four hours had been unalloyed joy for him. Spending time with Ianto was always a pleasure but being with him at Christmas had replaced unpleasant memories with new, good ones. "What have you found?"

"Another tree." Ianto gestured to the image on the screen which showed Roald Dahl Plass. There, on the paving slab at the foot of the water tower, was a tree.

"Don't be daft, you must have gone into yesterday's tape. See," Jack pointed across the Hub, "the tree is over there where we left it." Sure enough the tree was still standing against the wall, the pale green and golden leaves shimmering. The bird roosting there chose that moment to let out one of its occasional chirrups.

"It's a live feed, Jack, I do know how to do this. See," he zoomed back the camera to give a wider view, "there's lots of people about. They weren't there yesterday."

Jack leant in for a closer look. It was true. Various people – couples and families – were strolling around the Plass, well wrapped up against the chill wind and walking off some of the previous day's excesses. Some of the restaurants were open already, selling snacks and coffee. And there, centrally placed on the invisible lift, was a duplicate of the tree which had arrived the day before. He looked across to the tree in the Hub and then back at the grainy image. It looked identical. But what was it doing there? Why was it there? Where had it come from? Who had put it there? Perhaps he should start trying to answer these questions but at the moment the thought uppermost in his mind was that someone liked him enough to give him presents.

"Another present!" He grinned and almost clapped his hands but restrained himself in time.

"Not the point, Jack." Ianto glared at him, his expression stern and disapproving.

A sobered Jack stopped grinning, tried to look contrite and said, "I'll bring the lift down. We can check it out." Using his wrist strap controls, Jack activated the lift and it began its slow descent. He walked over to meet it, steadying the tree when the lift finally clunked into place. "It's the same type of tree," he announced to Ianto who was approaching, a PDA in his hands. "Whoa!"

"What is it?" Ianto, alarmed at Jack's sudden exclamation, jogged forward.

"There's something extra in there." Tentatively pushing back two branches, Jack looked into the centre of the tree. "It's more birds."

Circling the tree, still standing on the lift, Ianto scanned for life forms, energy, explosives – anything that might be potential dangers or which would explain where the tree had come from. He got immediate readings on the life forms. There were three. He looked over Jack's shoulder at the exposed branches and saw one was a duplicate of the bird in the original tree, plump and brown. The new birds – there were two – were a pale grey with darker markings on their wings. He checked the scans against the database in the hope that there would be a match. Nothing, at least so far.

"Look, another label," said Jack, reaching out to turn it round so he could read it. "_For Captain Jack, thank you for everything,"_ he read. A small frown creased his brow. "What 'everything'?"

"That was going to be my question. No matches in the database." Ianto looked at the tree and its occupants once more, head tilted to one side as he studied it. "Any ideas who's sending these to you?"

Jack shook his head. "Nope, but it's very nice of them." His lips twitched up into a smile but faded when he saw Ianto was unmoved. "I'll put it with the other one," said Jack, disappointed Ianto did not share his happiness; he was a lovely guy but far too serious sometimes. Jack grabbed the pot and carried it across to stand beside the first tree. The birds, shaken from their perches, squawked and flew around before settling back. Chirruping and other sounds, deep and similar to purring, filled the air as all four birds started calling to one another. "That's a bit of a racket." Suddenly all four birds flew up and circled round before settling at the edge of the pool for a bath and to drink.

For the next two hours, Jack and Ianto used various monitors and scanners around the Hub to try and discover the origin of the gifts. They confirmed that the trees were flowering qerische, native to Aqell Minor and transplanted when that planet's people migrated across the galaxy as their territory expanded. The trees could survive in Earth's atmosphere and should produce the fruit for which they were famed; round with a tough outer covering similar to orange peel. Jack reported they tasted like pears. The birds were more difficult to identify but appeared tame – one of each species allowed Ianto to hold them and was still long enough to be fully scanned. Trawling the CCTV images to discover how the trees had been deposited on the lift was frustrating. The images of the Plass showed normal activity before and after the appearance of the trees. There was no break in the recording and yet, in what could only be a fraction of a second, the trees miraculously were there, on the lift.

"This is very odd," remarked Jack, sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table. He had a plate of cold meats, pickles and baked potato on his knee, their late lunch.

Beside him, Ianto was thinking as he ate and did not reply immediately. "Who knows about the Hub? Would know about the lift?" he asked between mouthfuls.

"Hundreds of people, human and alien. Everyone who's ever worked here or passed through." Jack did not bother to wait until his mouth was empty to speak.

"Not going to make it easy to pinpoint someone then." Ianto paused, considered, then added, "There's one person it could be."

"Who?"

"John Hart." Having said it, having voiced his greatest fear, Ianto turned his head to look at Jack. Clearly, from the expression on the older man's face, he had not considered this possibility.

Swallowing down his current mouthful of food, Jack returned Ianto's gaze. "I suppose it could be but it doesn't … feel like him. Besides, he wouldn't mess with us, not now. Not after …" He didn't need to complete the sentence, they both knew he was referring to the deaths of Toshiko and Owen which were partly attributable to Hart. "I know it's weird, Ianto, but these gifts, they're not doing any harm. Might even say they're brightening up the place. Let's not get too wound up about it."

"Easy to say." They finished their meal, which took only a few minutes, in silence.

When both plates were empty, Jack said, "Seeing as the Rift's quiet still, let's take a walk up top, get a breath of fresh air."

"All right. Might be some clues up in the Plass, who knows."

This had not been Jack's purpose in suggesting the walk, but if it got Ianto out of the Hub, he was content. When they were up there, he'd suggest something more entertaining. Maybe they could take in a film.

* * *

_Are the gifts benign or is there a more sinister reason behind their arrival? More coming tomorrow ..._


	3. 27 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

27 December

After two days eating and drinking with her parents and their friends and neighbours, Gwen Cooper was more than ready to return to work. Like the rest of those employed in the transport industry, her husband Rhys was off until after New Year so she left him still in his dressing gown to potter around the flat. She assumed he would make it to the supermarket at some point to replenish the fridge. Feeling in need of exercise, she left her car behind and strode out in the crisp morning air along Clare Road, cutting through some back roads to get to the Taff and the riverside walk. She enjoyed the walk and stopped for a moment on the bridge to look down into the slowly moving river before heading into the Bay.

Using the Tourist Office entrance, she jogged down the stairs to the cog door which rolled back in response to her access code. The Hub was in semi-darkness, its usual nighttime mode, so she hit the light switches as she climbed up to the work area. Putting on the lights, and making as much noise as she could, was her way of alerting Jack - and Ianto if he'd spent the night – that she had arrived. She did not want to come across them unawares, not again. No one stirred, there were no shouted greetings, so she sat at her desk – the one that had been Owen's – and checked what was going on. Waiting for the connections to be made, she took in the additional decorations in the Hub – the tinsel and the lights, the nativity scene, the trees in the corner – and smiled; seems her colleagues had celebrated in style.

When the monitor came to life at last – even Torchwood hadn't eliminated computer lag – she saw that the Rift had opened over Cathays a couple of hours earlier. That would be where Jack and Ianto were. Slipping her comms into her ear, she opened a channel and said, "Jack, Ianto, everything all right?"

"_Hey, Gwen. Merry Christmas!" _Jack's voice boomed over the comms and she winced.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Would people never stop with the greeting, she wondered. Surely it was time to ditch it for another year. "You need me out there?"

"_No, we've got it." _

"_No thanks to you,"_ came through in Ianto's unmistakable tones.

"_Well you should have moved. It's not my fault he's got a cold."_ Jack had obviously had this out with Ianto before.

Laughing at their exchange, Gwen decided to leave them to it. "I'll get on here then. See you when you get here."

"_Oh, Gwen, I'm running an observation program on the water tower. Don't mess with it,"_ added Ianto.

"Okay. Anything I should know about?" She rolled the chair over to Ianto's desk and checked the monitor. The image of the water tower was displayed there with a line of numbers running along the bottom.

"_Looking for Jack's stalker." _

"His what!"

"_We'll explain when we get in,"_ interrupted Jack. _"Ianto's got a bee in his bonnet_."

"All right. Don't be long, I'm dying for a coffee. Been drinking Nescafé for days!"

"_You had to say that, didn't you? Ianto's gone into shock."_ Jack sounded amused and peeved at the same time. _"I left a folder on your desk. Why don't you get on with that?"_

"Okay."

For the next hour, Gwen checked the logs, pleased the past couple of days had been free of Rift activity. All three of them had needed a break and it seems they had got it. On her way back from the kitchen with a bottle of water, she was surprised when some birds chirruped at her from the two new trees standing side by side near the armoury. They appeared happy enough so she left them alone and went back to her desk. She was getting to grips with the research Jack wanted - into sightings of a Yeti in Penarth - when he and Ianto returned to the Hub dragging a shaggy humanoid between them. It was about four feet high and sniffed and snorted noisily.

"What's that then?" she asked, getting up to take a look.

"Tewip. Don't get too close, you might get the same treatment Ianto did." Jack beamed at her, pleased to have his team back together again.

She glanced at Ianto. A band of dried snot ran from his chest down his body ending just above his knees. It was green and looked disgusting. "Poor you," she sympathised stifling a laugh.

"Humph. Let's get it in the cells then I can change." Ianto pulled the Tewip forward, Jack keeping pace on the alien's other side.

"Ohh, can I help? With the changing, I mean," asked Jack, his eyes alight with mischief.

"No you can't!" They disappeared through the archway that led to the lower levels.

It was another half an hour before Ianto, showered and changed into an identical suit, made some coffee and the three colleagues gathered in the work area to drink it. They talked about their respective Christmases and were almost caught up when Ianto, who had been keeping an eye on his monitor, exclaimed, "Damn!"

"What is it?" Gwen looked over his shoulder. "It's one of those trees." During the earlier discussion Jack and Ianto had mentioned the arrival of the other two but she had not quite believed their explanation and yet here was another.

"Better bring it down, Jack," urged Ianto. "There are a lot more people about today, it might be seen."

"It's on the lift," protested Jack who nevertheless used his wrist strap to activate the invisible lift.

The three of them walked over to meet it coming down. This time there was an obvious change to the previous days' 'deliveries'. At the foot of the tree, fastened to it by tethers of red ribbon, were three chickens who clucked in surprise when the lift clunked into place.

"I can't believe we've got yet another one," complained Ianto, scanning the tree with his PDA. "There are three more of those birds from yesterday; two blue ones and a fat one."

"Someone really likes me," crowed Jack, having read the label.

"Don't know about that," commented Gwen, standing back a little and surveying the tree. "Wait till the dancers and the pipers turn up."

The two men stopped what they were doing and turned in unison to stare at her. Ianto found his voice first. "The what?"

"You know something about this?" queried Jack a beat later. "Are they from you?" His smile grew broader. "Are you doing a Secret Santa? 'Cos this is a bit excessive even for you."

"Of course it's not from me! Haven't got money to waste on practical jokes."

Cutting to the chase, Ianto asked, "What did you mean about dancers and pipers?"

She looked from him to Jack and back again, amazed they had not seen the significance of the trees. "The carol?" Still no recognition from either of them. "The twelve days of Christmas? Partridge in a pear tree?"

Ianto groaned and sank down to sit on the raised edge of the walkway, burying his head in his hands. "I can't believe I didn't think of that," he muttered.

Jack was still a bit behind the others. "What are you saying?"

With a sigh, Gwen explained. "The carol called the Twelve Days of Christmas has gifts arriving every day. It starts with a partridge in a pear tree and has lots of birds –" a groan from Ianto, "- gold rings, dancers and pipers and … other things."

"Milkmaids, there are milkmaids," added Ianto in a pained wail.

"Really! Always did like the buxom types." Jack was not at all fazed. He vaguely recalled the carol, has sung it at various celebrations over the past century, but the precise words eluded him. "And gold rings? They could come in useful."

"Didn't you hear her, Jack!" exclaimed Ianto, on his feet again and facing Jack angrily. "There are twelve days and it's going to get worse and worse every day. There'll be flocks of birds, cows, swans!," he had just remembered them, "and bloody dancers!"

"You'll cope, Ianto, you always do."

The corner of the thrown PDA caught Jack on the temple and he fell backwards a few paces in surprise, ending up paddling in the pool as Ianto stormed off.

* * *

_Oh dear, poor Ianto. Will things get better or worse? More tomorrow ..._


	4. 28 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

28 December

The Hub was not a welcoming place to Jack that morning. He had been alone all the previous night. Ianto showed his displeasure about the gifts that had been arriving by ignoring Jack all day and leaving at six o'clock on the dot. No amount of cajoling or pleading had changed his mind and Jack was seriously down in the dumps. This was not how he had wanted to spend the Christmas season, especially when it had started so well.

Sparing only a couple of hours for rest, Jack had spent the night following up on all the work he and Gwen had done during the day in trying to locate the sender of the gifts. He got a little further. The trees arrived at precisely eleven o'clock every morning and there was a corresponding, but tiny, spike of temporal energy at that time. The analyses of the energy were still running but Jack had hopes that they would provide some clues in due course. The birds themselves had been identified: the fat one was a squlizee, a tasty game bird; the grey ones that came in pairs were doves from Tampara; the chickens were just that, chickens from France.

Jack was standing in the middle of the Hub at nearly eight o'clock when the cog door rolled back and the alarms went off. Turning to look in that direction, he was relieved to see Ianto appear; he was an hour later than usual but at least he had come in. "Hey, Ianto," he called.

"Jack." This was said with an unsmiling face and curt nod. "Coffee?"

"Please." Any hopes that Ianto had forgotten yesterday's upset were dashed and Jack sighed, put his hands in his pockets and watched as the Welshman hung up his coat and then went to the coffee machine. Deciding to try once more, Jack went up to join Ianto. "I've found a bit more, about these gifts." There was no response as Ianto continued to operate the machine. "There's a spike of temporal energy."

All movement stopped as Ianto absorbed this news. He had spent the previous evening and night alternately fuming and feeling foolish for sulking; Jack obviously didn't know any more about what was going on than the rest of them. Ianto had been about to concede this and make up but now a whole new possibility opened up before him, one he did not like at all.

"Good news, right?" suggested Jack hopefully.

"Wrong." Ianto started moving again, capturing the rich dark coffee as it streamed out. Turning, he pushed the blue and white mug into Jack's hands. "I'll be working in the Tourist Office today." With that he took his own mug, grabbed some files at random from the nearest desk and left.

-ooOoo-

"So, temporal energy then," said Gwen. She was sitting in the office with Jack, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "Can we block it?"

"No." All the pleasure Jack had felt about receiving the gifts had disappeared with Ianto's withdrawal. He just wanted to stop them and had been continuing to work on that for the past couple of hours, latterly with Gwen's help. She had been practical - as she had been the day before when the two of them had rigged a containment field to keep the birds, especially the chickens, from straying – but they still hadn't come up with a solution.

"Any ideas about who's sending them? Think, Jack. Who do you know who would do this?" She eyed him steadily.

He threw his hands up. "I honestly don't know. I suppose it depends whether they're genuine gifts or someone's having a joke."

"Why would anyone send you trees with birds in them! Weird kind of gift!"

"Not so weird. When I was on Donzo we exchanged snot. And then - "

"What! That's disgusting!" She sat up, hands on her knees. "You'd better work through your little black book and come up with some ideas. Maybe then you'll be able to win back Ianto." She stood up. "It's nearly eleven."

Twenty minutes later the two of them were inspecting and scanning the new tree which had arrived with a squlizee, two doves, three chickens and an additional four black birds. The latter were identified as collisy birds from Paraton Three. Taking down the containment field while they added the new arrivals excited all the birds – twenty now – and the ones that could flew up into the air while the chickens scattered around the place. All efforts to recapture them were in vain until Myfanwy came to investigate which frightened the birds so much most quickly returned to roost in the trees. However, one squlizee got into the hothouse and had to be rescued by Gwen while Myfanwy made a snack of a slow-moving chicken. With the survivors back in containment, Jack sat wracking his brains about the sender and Gwen wandered up to the Tourist Office to talk to Ianto.

"I saw," he said as she came through the secret door.

"Jack doesn't know where they're coming from. I'd swear to that."

"That's worse, you know." Ianto was sitting on his stool behind the counter sipping coffee.

"Why?"

"The song. You want a coffee?"

"Please." He disappeared into the back office as she puzzled over the words of the carol, song, she wasn't sure what it was. Like most people she could remember snatches of the words but got muddled around days six and seven.

Ianto returned and handed her a mug. "It's in the first line," he explained when it was clear she was still confused. "On the first day of Christmas …" He left her to continue.

" … my true love sent to me a -" She paused, mug halfway to her lips and realisation on her face. "His true love."

"Right."

"I'm sure that's not what's happening here," she said.

"No? Jack's been around a long time and I've ... got used to that. I know he's had relationships before, wives even, but they were at other times. Not in this time, not 21st century Earth." He blinked back the tears. "This … this tree thing, it's cutting into my time with him."

A surge of sympathy welled up in Gwen and she skirted the counter and wrapped her arms round Ianto. He coped so well with the extraordinary being that was Jack Harkness, his unique history and future, that she forgot how hard it must be to know there had been and would be so many others in Jack's life. She was still jealous of Ceri Hughes who had dated Rhys when they were at university; how much more difficult it would be if there were hundreds of previous relationships to take into account.

"He's dotty about you, Ianto. You have nothing to worry about."

"Oh no? Temporal energy, Gwen, what does that conjure up? It's either John Hart or The Doctor."

"Oh, sweetheart, you mean much more to Jack than those two! He sent Hart packing, remember? And he chose to come back to you rather than go off with The Doctor. It's you he loves, not those tossers."

Ianto tried to believe her. He wanted to believe her but there was always that small part of him that didn't quite believe that someone as special as Jack could possibly prefer him, Ianto, to them. They were so much more exciting and had more in common with Jack while Ianto was an Earthbound Welshman with so many hang-ups it was amazing he wasn't locked up in a madhouse.

Gwen felt Ianto stiffen and pull away before she noticed Jack had entered silently. His intense gaze was on Ianto and she took this as her sign to leave them alone. She made a hasty exit. Jack stepped aside to let her leave, never taking his gaze from Ianto who stared back hardly daring to believe what he saw in the older man's eyes. Could it be?

Moving closer, Jack put both hands on Ianto's shoulders continuing to stare into his eyes. "I have only one true love and his name's Ianto Jones," whispered Jack. "No one else matters." He was relieved when Ianto smiled and opened his arms for an embrace.

* * *

_Ahh, isn't that sweet? More coming tomorrow ..._


	5. 29 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

29 December

A short Weevil hunt started the day for Jack and Ianto, giving them a breath of fresh air and some exercise after a night spent together indulging in make up sex. Both were invigorated by the early morning start and stood in the work area munching bacon sandwiches and drinking coffee, too energised to even sit down.

"Tell me it again. Or sing it," said Jack, a teasing note in his voice.

"I'll read it, thanks very much." Ianto reached for a piece of paper on which were printed the words of the carol. "First day, a partridge in a pear tree. I guess the qerishe and squlizee are that all right." He took a bite of his sandwich, licking his fingers when brown sauce dripped over them. "Day two, two turtle doves."

"Like us, Ianto, like us." Jack made a soppy face which was spoiled when he stuffed the remainder of the sandwich in his mouth.

"Humph. Day three it's French hens. Day four, colly birds and day five, that's today, gold rings."

Still chewing his enormous mouthful of food, Jack mumbled, "At last, something useful."

"Maybe. I suppose we can cope with trees and birds, it's the rest that's going to be a pain if you can't stop them coming." He glanced at Jack who merely shrugged. "Right, no hope of that then. Tomorrow we can expect six geese a-laying followed by seven swans a-swimming, eight maids a-milking – oh joy! – nine ladies dancing, ten lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping and finally, twelve drummers drumming."

"Quite a haul. You've got to admit that's some expensive present." Jack was still secretly pleased someone was sending all this largesse.

"Forget the expense, what are we going to go with them all! And don't forget we get them day after day not just once. That's forty two geese, the same number of swans thirty six ladies dancing and –"

"I get the message, Ianto, I get it. Really I do." Jack drank some more coffee.

"We can't have them in here. Myfanwy's already done for one of the chickens, she'll think all the others are fair game now." He turned to look into the corner where, behind the shimmering containment field, the trees and remaining birds were gathered. "And look at the mess in there. Droppings everywhere."

"We'll have to pass them on. Give them away to someone."

"Like who? And you can't give alien birdlife to people. You don't know what it will do to the local environment."

"We can give the chickens away. And the swans and geese, someone would take those too."

"If they're Earth species. And the dancers? The leaping lords?" Ianto had his hands on his hips and one eyebrow raised as he stared at Jack. "You can't just give them away."

"No." Jack was finding it hard to concentrate, too busy admiring Ianto as he stood there in his charcoal grey suit with the red shirt and striped tie. He looked gorgeous, especially as he was just a little bit rumpled from the Weevil hunt.

"Concentrate, Jack!" Ianto had seen the look in the other man's eye and recognised it all too easily. Jack was like a teenager, thinking of sex every ten seconds – and acting on it if he got half a chance.

"You make it very difficult, Ianto Jones. Very very difficult." Jack took a pace forwards, hands reaching for the Welshman.

"No!"

Ianto dodged out of the way but Jack just kept coming, hands out like Frankenstein's monster and a determined look in his eye. It turned into a chase, with Ianto darting here and there in an effort to throw off pursuit. But all in vain; Jack didn't give up and the two men ended up in the hothouse where they steamed up the windows. They were ambling back down the stairs, satisfied grins on their faces, when Gwen walked through the cog door setting off the door alarm. She took one look at them and sighed: no hope they'd been doing any serious work on the problem of the gifts.

"'Morning, Gwen," called Jack, sauntering up to join her in the work area. Behind him, Ianto sloped off to the archives carrying a pile of files.

"'Morning. No need to ask what you've been up to." His grin grew wider confirming her suspicions. "Any chance you'll turn your mind to work anytime soon?" she asked, turning on her PC.

"Hey! We've been Weevil hunting."

"Is that what you're calling it now! And the trace on the temporal energy? Done that yet?"

"I've made a start. It's not easy, you know."

"Then leave Ianto alone and get on with it."

"Who made you the boss?" muttered Jack sulkily, entering the office to do her bidding.

-ooOoo-

At eleven o'clock the three Torchwood operatives were gathered around the monitor watching the water tower, or more precisely the paving slab at its foot, with rapt attention. Jack activated his cobbled together temporal energy scanner and glanced at the readout at the exact moment the expected tree arrived on the invisible lift. The scanner had found something but it flashed by so fast it was impossible to follow the data with the human eye.

"Got something," he told the others. "Need to check the recording to find out what it tells us."

"Not just yet," warned Ianto, activating the lift. "Let's get this latest tree sorted first."

The three of them went to meet the lift which was descending slowly. On it stood a qerishe tree, its branches full of birds. Just before the lift settled into place, the squlizee flew off, its plump body making an ungraceful dive into the pool. The hens, tied to the base of the tree, tried to follow and their combined efforts pulled the tree on top of them. It fell off the paving slab before anyone could stop it. The doves and collisy birds flew up in alarm, flapped and squawked noisily then headed in different directions only to squawk even more and dive-bomb the Torchwood team when they sensed the silent shape of Myfanwy gliding down from her nest.

"Shit!" exclaimed Ianto, ducking and flapping his arms to head off two of the collisy. "Jack, send Myfanwy back!"

Using his wrist strap controls, Jack got Myfanwy back in her nest but that didn't stop the pandemonium below. With the danger removed, the birds had taken off again and were either by the pool, flying round the Hub or perched on the railings. Behind the containment field, the birds that had arrived earlier were in the air, beating their wings against the shimmering wall of light that prevented them going to the assistance of the others of their kind.

"Oh this is just perfect," said Ianto, looking round at the mess.

Leaving him and Jack to sort out the escaped birds, Gwen righted the newly-arrived tree and dragged it off the invisible lift towing the shocked chickens behind her. As she did so, she noticed the gold rings in a bunch – similar to a child's teething ring – and tied to a branch by a green ribbon. She reached in and undid the ribbon, surprised at the weight of the rings which were each about the same size as her palm. She also noticed the label swinging from another branch and held it so she could read the message.

"Guys." No response, Jack and Ianto were still rounding up the birds. "Hey, guys," she repeated a little louder, "you need to see this."

Arms full of birds, Jack approached. "What ya got?" He handed his birds to Ianto who added them to those he had already secured behind a second containment field.

"The label." She angled it so he could read: _Jack, for the special times_. Watching closely, she saw he was surprised but flattered: was nothing going to dent his ego? Dismissing the thought, it was not important, she asked, "What are these?"

Jack looked where she was pointing. Along one side of the label was a series of six symbols, ones that were immediately familiar to him. "Co-ordinates, that's what they are! Maybe now we're getting somewhere." He tore the label from the tree and bounded off to the work area.

* * *

_Co-ordinates to where and when? More tomorrow ..._


	6. 30 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

30 December

A Rift opening had kept the team busy the previous afternoon and the resulting paperwork took most of the evening, so the following morning Jack was still working on the co-ordinates he had taken from the five labels which had accompanied his daily gifts of trees and birds. To anyone else on Earth - with the possible exception of some UNIT boffins and Sarah Jane Smith and her son – the symbols would mean nothing but to Jack they were a big clue to the mystery. These, together with the results of the scan he had taken the day before, should reveal the location of the sender of the daily gifts.

Each label had a row of six symbols carefully printed on one side. No-one had noticed them before Gwen had spotted them the previous day so it was pure luck that had saved the labels from being thrown out with some of Jack's Christmas decorations that Ianto had been quietly removing. As it was, one label had a coffee stain from when it had been used as a coaster, another had been torn and the rest scrunched up into balls. With patience, Jack had managed to read them all and had the five sets of symbols set out in a grid on a piece of paper. He was currently staring at them. While they were definitely co-ordinates they didn't make any sense – at least, not yet; temporal co-ordinates were notoriously difficult to decipher without the right programs.

"Any joy?" asked Ianto, placing a mug of coffee on the desk.

"No, not yet." Raising his gaze, Jack managed a weary smile; he had been concentrating on the symbols for too long. Reaching for the coffee, he took a mouthful of the restorative liquid. "This is just what I needed."

Sat in the visitor's chair, Ianto flicked through the labels which Jack had put to one side. "So how do we use these if you manage to work them out?"

"If? Hey, I'll work them out." Jack looked affronted as he sipped his coffee.

"Of course you will," soothed the Welshman. "So, how do we use them?"

"With this." Jack waggled his right arm and the vortex manipulator contained in the wrist strap he always wore. "Program them in – when I can figure out the right order - and press the button." He watched Ianto carefully, wondering what kind of reaction he would get. Since meeting the Welshman, Jack had gone time travelling twice: the first time Ianto had felt abandoned and the second Daleks had been about to descend on the Hub. Not good memories.

"Thought it didn't work."

"If I'm right, these will unlock it."

"I see." Ianto replaced the labels, not meeting Jack's gaze. "Make sure you tell us before you go." He stood up and made to leave the room.

"Oh no you don't!" said Jack, also on his feet. He rounded the desk and turned Ianto to face him, putting a hand under the other man's chin to raise it. "The only reason for going is to stop these gifts coming. I'm not leaving for good. Understand?"

"Yes." Ianto dragged up a smile. "But … well, just remember to say." Gently, he pulled away and left the office.

Jack stood at the office door looking after Ianto as he walked through the work area, down the steps and across to the containment fields. He and Gwen and rigged up a series of fields which kept the birds – nearly thirty of them – in one place with an access port for Ianto to feed them. That was what he was doing now, putting seeds, nuts and small pieces of fruit into shallow bowls and sliding them through the field. He also replenished the water bowl and larger birdbath. As always, Ianto's movements were neat and controlled and Jack felt a wave of admiration for the inner strength which enabled this very special man to carry on when emotionally upset. For Jack knew Ianto was upset at the thought of him, Jack, leaving once more. Resolved not to hurt him if he could avoid it, Jack went back to his desk and the co-ordinates.

It was half past ten when Gwen bustled into the Hub. The place was quiet with Jack in the office, hunched over his desk where she had left him earlier, and no sign of Ianto. She wondered if they'd had a row and determined to find out.

"Where's Ianto?" she asked, standing in the office doorway.

"Downstairs. He's getting a file for me."

"Oh, that's all right then. Any joy with that stuff?" She came further into the room and peered at the grid. The symbols - a series of squiggles and dots - were as meaningless to her upside down as they had been right side up. She thought they looked like shorthand but more complex.

"Maybe. Not sure. I really need more."

"More? Why? Looks like plenty to me."

"You really don't understand temporal mechanics, do you?" Jack smiled up at her, leaning back in chair. He felt tired from concentrating so hard and rubbed his eyes. "Your mate happy?"

"God, yeah." She perched on the side of the desk. "He wanted more chickens and apparently these French ones are the bee's knees. Real top of the range. Rare too. He's planning to breed from them." Gwen had taken the eight surviving French hens to an old school friend who ran a small holding a few miles outside the city. "I said I might have some more and he'll take those too."

"That's good." Ianto had appeared soundlessly at the door and Gwen and Jack looked over in surprise when he spoke. "He want swans? Geese? Cows!"

"Maybe. He's got more land than I imagined and not a lot of stock; he's only been there six months."

"Excellent." Jack rubbed his hands together and plastered a big smile on his face, determined to be upbeat for Ianto's sake. "So that just leaves the energetic lords and ladies and –"

"There's the milkmaids," pointed out Ianto, handing Jack a slim file. "And drummers and pipers. And all those other birds." He waved a hand in their direction.

"We'll work something out." He checked the time. "Better get ready for today's arrival." Gwen and Ianto left as Jack opened the file and flicked through its contents.

At one minute to eleven, Gwen and Ianto were at the latter's desk watching the CCTV on one monitor and running the temporal scan Jack had devised on another. Jack was standing by the pool, wearing his greatcoat with the Webley strapped to his waist, staring at the display on his vortex manipulator. If he got a strong enough reading he was going to visit his mysterious benefactor and make him stop.

"Ten fifty nine," announced Ianto followed a few seconds later by, "fifty seconds to go." Pause. "Forty."

"Remember," cut in Jack, "I'll time my return to eleven fifteen. Look out for me."

"Twenty seconds," said Ianto, gaze fixed on the monitor. He was unwilling to look at Jack who, once again, was about to take off for places – or times – unknown leaving him, Ianto, alone to wait. There were so many things that could go wrong and Ianto had little confidence in Jack's promises of an easy or quick return.

"We will," promised Gwen. She smiled at Jack and rested a hand on Ianto's shoulder; a small comforting gesture that told Jack she would look after Ianto and Ianto that he was not alone. "Go careful."

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

Only at this point did Ianto look up and gaze at Jack, determined to fix the shape and size of him in his mind in case he never saw him again. Ianto watched as the seconds ticked away, hearing Gwen say that the tree had arrived on the paving slab in the Plass above but still watching Jack.

"Damn! It didn't work!" complained Jack, closing the cover on the manipulator. He thrust off his greatcoat and had barely time to hang it over a rail when Ianto was there beside him, in his arms and kissing him.

Gwen sighed and went off to sort out the latest gift on her own.

* * *

_More tomorrow ..._


	7. 31 December

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

31 December

That New Year's Eve Ianto was feeling a mixture of happiness and apprehension. Happy because he and Jack had spent the previous evening with Gwen and Rhys enjoying a meal followed by a club. Everyone had been on good form and later the two men had decamped to Ianto's flat for some great sex. He was apprehensive because Jack was going to try to jump - leap, whatever it was called - to the source of the gifts that had been arriving for the past six days. Jack may promise to be back within fifteen minutes but Ianto felt sure he be would gone longer. Maybe forever.

Putting this thought aside as best he could, he walked through the cog door balancing the box of pastries in one hand and carrying a bag of groceries in the other. He had made an early trip to the supermarket and stopped at the fancy bakery on the way back as they all deserved a treat. He climbed up to the work area where Gwen was sitting at her desk.

"I bought us some pastries," he said cheerily, depositing the carrier bag on the table and holding out the box to Gwen. "Help yourself."

"Thanks, Ianto, I need a sugar boost. These wretched end-of-year figures won't add up." She reached into the box and after a moment's indecision picked a raspberry turnover.

"Need a hand?"

"Rather have a coffee," she mumbled around the pastry.

"Okay. Where's Jack?"

"Armoury."

Looking over, Ianto still couldn't see his boss. The armoury was obscured by the large nativity scene and part of the containment fields that held the trees and birds that had been arriving with monotonous regularity. "Take your word for it."

"Oh he's there all right. Said he wanted a bigger gun for later on." She saw the spasm of pain that crossed his face but didn't see how the subject of Jack's probable departure could be avoided. She sympathised with Ianto and wished there was something she could do but didn't know what. "Any joy with the rings?"

"Umm. They're real gold, like we thought." Ianto pulled a heavy gold ring from his pocket. It was one of the ten they now had and he had got it assayed. "Current market price is £900 an ounce and this ring is just over three ounces."

"Wow! Multiply that by ten and we have a tidy sum." She sucked a sugary finger.

"Jeweller said he'd take it there and then," confirmed Ianto. "Might be more difficult to dispose of them all, don't know how to explain why we have so many, but there's no rush. I'll make that coffee."

Taking the groceries to the kitchen he left the bag on the side next to the old box he'd found for the goose eggs. The birds really had been 'a-laying' when they'd arrived the day before but luckily they were native birds and had been shipped to Gwen's smallholding-friend – with the additional three hens - before any more eggs had appeared. Standing at the coffee machine, he saw Jack emerge from the armoury with one of their largest guns – a black boxy one with a shoulder strap – and head for the work area. Following a few minutes later, he gave his colleagues their coffees and watched as Jack, who had already demolished a pastry, lovingly stroked the gun lying beside him on the couch.

Gwen, sitting at her desk, looked from Jack to Ianto and was struck once again how much they relied on one another. In just two years they had gone from boss and employee and occasional bed partners to a couple – even if they both shied away from admitting it. She hoped, for both their sakes, that Jack wouldn't be away for long. She doubted Ianto would come through it unscathed if he was.

"So, here's the plan," said Jack, aware of the slight tension in the air but not showing it. "With that last set of co-ordinates, there's no problem about jumping to the source of the gifts. Be able to find out which of my many fans is sending them!" The joke fell flat, even Gwen failed to raise a smile.

"I'm not sure you should, Jack," said Ianto, raising his eyes to look meet Jack's gaze. "I know I've moaned about all this … stuff but I'd rather cope with that than … Well, than see you getting into something we know nothing about."

"I'm not going just to stop the gifts. Whoever's behind this has been sending them for a reason. I have to find out what that is." For once Jack was utterly serious, his gaze locked with Ianto's, willing him to understand. "And whatever's waiting for me, I'll deal with it." The seriousness disappeared in an instant and he was grinning widely. "Have more faith in me!"

Ianto smiled faintly, accepting the inevitable: Jack was going to do this whatever he – Ianto – said. "We'd better make sure everything's ready then."

A few minutes before eleven, the three of them were standing at the foot of the invisible lift. Jack, actually standing on the lift, was wearing his greatcoat and had the large gun slung over his shoulder while he studied his vortex manipulator. Gwen was nearby using a hand-held scanner. Only Ianto had nothing to do. He was standing close to Jack and had to stop himself reaching out to touch the greatcoat one last time.

"Okay, kids, ten seconds."

Jack was concentrating on the display and didn't see the look of anguish on Ianto's face. Gwen saw it and suddenly knew what she had to do. She grabbed a Glock from just inside the armoury and thrust it into Ianto's hands at the same time as she pushed him onto the lift. Off-balance, Ianto grabbed Jack to steady himself.

"Go with him!" shouted Gwen, standing back as Jack pressed the button on the manipulator and he and Ianto - a surprised but willing passenger – disappeared in a flash of light.

The Hub was very empty. Gwen stood, gazing at the space her colleagues had occupied and wondered why she had done something so stupid. She had no idea what lay at the co-ordinates or, come to that, what the journey would be like: would Ianto survive? "You stupid twat!" she exclaimed, berating herself for a moment of madness.

Twittering and chirruping from behind the containment field reminded her that another gift should have arrived. The scanner confirmed that indeed another tree was up on the Plass. She brought the lift down into the Hub, dragged it off into the containment field then used the lift to go up to street level. As had happened the day before, the six geese were busy laying eggs right by the water tower. Today they had been joined by seven swans swimming up the side of tower in a gravity-defying feat. Amazingly, none of the passers-by were taking any notice of this phenomenon. Gwen rounded up the compliant geese and sent them down on the lift while she contemplated the swans. Luckily she was saved from having to take action when, responding to something she couldn't detect, they all swam to the top of the tower and flew off to the Bay, settling on the choppy waters. Deciding that was the best place for them, she checked her watch: 11.12. If all went to plan, Jack and Ianto should be back in a couple of minutes.

She moved away from the lift, not sure what would happen if she was stood on the paving slab when they materialised. Thoughts of mingled atoms – she had seen too many transporter accidents in _Star Trek_ – drove her a dozen paces away and she sat on the steps, gaze fixed on the slab and muttering under her breath.

"Come on, Jack. Come back to me. And bring Ianto back too."

A church clock in the distance struck the quarter hour and she held her breath. Nothing happened. Jack and Ianto did not appear. Nor were they anywhere on the Plass. What was she supposed to do now? Standing, she walked slowly back to the lift and something small and blue fluttered down. Holding out her hand, she caught the laminated piece of paper and read: _All well. Be back tomorrow, same time. Take the rest of the day off, Jack. PS: Happy New Year. _

_

* * *

_

Will they be back? Read tomorrow's chapter to find out ...


	8. 1 January

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

1 January

"Can I eat this, sweetheart?"

"Umm?" Gwen did not look up from the monitor. It was ten fifty and she was busy setting up the scans and recording devices.

"This." Rhys, who had walked over to stand beside her, thrust the qerishe fruit under her nose. "Smells nice."

"Better not. Might turn you into a frog or something." She grinned to herself when he let out an oath and dropped the fruit which rolled along the desk and fell onto the floor. They had been in the Hub for three hours, doing the routine chores before the expected arrival of another gift and, she fervently hoped and prayed, the return of Jack and Ianto. "Thought you were making a cup of tea."

"Oh yeah." He trotted off obediently.

She spared a moment to watch him, grateful for his constant support and presence in her life; he helped keep her sane in the extraordinary world of Torchwood. As she had to keep an eye on the remote Rift monitor, they had celebrated New Year at home, just the two of them, happy with a few drinks in front of the telly rather the more raucous celebrations they'd attended in the past. Turning back to the monitor, she made the last adjustments and had finished when Rhys returned with two mugs. They sipped the tea as the computer intoned a countdown to eleven o'clock.

"Blimey, it just appeared!" exclaimed Rhys, leaning in to stare at the tree that had arrived in a blink of an eye. "Are those swans swimming up the tower?"

"Yep." Gwen abandoned her tea and widened the view. It was as before. The tree was on the lift with the hens tied to the bottom. Geese were laying eggs close to the water tower which the swans were indeed swimming up. In addition today were eight five-legged, antlered beasts being milked by what appeared to be children in a circle around the tower. "How the hell do we explain this?" she muttered, activating the invisible lift and bringing it down into the Hub. "Come on, we've got to sort that lot out."

With the tree and birds off the lift and behind a temporary containment field, Gwen and Rhys travelled up. The geese, unusually well-behaved, stayed put and the swans flew off but the beasts continued to stand while they were milked. Gwen could see this clearly, could even hear the orange 'milk' squirting into the metal buckets, but the other people on the Plass walked around them without a second glance.

"That's weird," commented Rhys who had noticed the same thing. "Does this invisible field thing go out that far?"

"No. Least, I didn't think so." She checked her watch: 11.10. "Jack'll be back in five minutes. We'll wait till he gets here." In her pocket, hidden from sight, her fingers were tightly crossed: Jack just had to come back, and bring Ianto safely home too.

Gwen and Rhys sat on the steps a little way away and watched the scene. Eleven fifteen came and went with no flash of light or roll of thunder or any other intimation that Jack and Ianto had returned. Gwen's heart sank. If her colleagues had not come as promised, she doubted they would ever come. Rhys picked up on her mood and squeezed her hand sympathetically.

"Maybe tomorrow, eh love?" he said.

"What's this? Sitting down on the job?" The ebullient American-accented tones were unmistakeable. "We've got herding to do, girl. On your feet." He reached down and pulled Gwen up.

She stood, staring at him. He was wearing a bikini top with skimpy shorts in blue lamé with boots and a peaked cap of the same material. Beside her, Rhys gaped and then sniggered which set her off too.

"Hey, I'll have you know this is high fashion where I've just been!" He put his hands on his hips and looked so ridiculous the other two burst into peals of laughter.

Ianto appeared beside Jack and said, "What's the holdup? We haven't got time to waste." He was dressed identically to Jack but his costume was red.

"Oh my god. Ianto!" The laughter redoubled, genuine amusement mixed with relief at seeing the two men safe and well.

"Ignore them," said Jack resignedly. "Let's get these inside." He and Ianto went off, herding the beasts and their attendants before them leaving Gwen and Rhys hanging on to one another still laughing hysterically.

At three o'clock the three Torchwood colleagues were in the boardroom with coffee and an iced walnut cake. The upper level was full of noisy creatures and they wanted some peace and quiet. Gwen had only just returned from taking the geese and hens to her friend, dropping Rhys at the pub at the same time. "Come on then," she said, cutting herself a large slice of cake, "tell me what really happened." The two men's explanations had been cursory and she assumed there was more.

Jack, back in his normal clothes and with his feet on the table, glanced at Ianto, who was in his suit, and shared a smile. "We went to a New Year party."

"Ianto, why don't you tell me. Might get a bit of sense then."

"We did go to a party. It was a party planet." He saw her exasperation and went on quickly, "Honestly, Gwen, it was. This is what happened."

The story Ianto told, with interruptions and embellishments from Jack, was ordinary and absurd at the same time. The men had landed in an anonymous room and left by the single door only to find themselves in a maze of corridors that seemed to go on forever, each identical to the one before. Their watches had stopped - after the hands had whizzed round a time or two – at twelve o'clock and they had no way of knowing how long they walked. Even Jack's vortex manipulator was telling them nothing. Being cautious, they turned left at every junction and Ianto marked each with a small discreet cross made with some chalk he happened to have in his pocket. Finally they saw a red door, the first colour they had seen in this grey world, and opened it. The party was on the other side: discordant music accompanied a swirling kaleidoscope of colour and filled the large room which was full of dancing bodies only partly visible through the shifting lights.

"It was quite different to what we'd seen up 'til then," said Ianto, remembering the fear that had assailed him at meeting other people in the strange place. "But at least it was life. I'd imagined being stuck in those corridors forever with just Jack for company."

"But think of the fun we'd have had!" Jack beamed at him before stuffing cake into his mouth. He was content for Ianto to tell the tale of their little adventure, as long as he didn't leave out the best bits.

"Then what?" asked Gwen.

"Bouncers took our guns away. Still not sure why you let them," said Ianto, looking across at Jack and noticing the cake crumbs on his shirt.

"No way of stopping them. Besides, I wanted you on the dance floor!"

"Oh don't! That was so embarrassing." Ianto closed his eyes and shuddered.

Jack took up the story and explained that the party's dance floor was a field of weightlessness. He grinned as he described, with accompanying demonstration, how Ianto had floated off the floor and started to roll around before jerking his arms and legs to keep upright followed by a couple of ungainly somersaults which only stopped when Jack hauled him round the right way and kept hold of him.

"You should have seen it," guffawed Jack. "It was so funny!" Gwen was laughing too, picturing the dignified Ianto in so unlikely a position.

"Humph." Ianto was not amused. "Wouldn't have been so bad if you'd not started feeling me up."

"Did not!"

"Did."

"Did not!"

"Well if it wasn't you, who was it?"

"Boys, boys, you can sort that out later." _And won't they enjoy that_, she thought. "I want to know about this woman, the one sending the trees."

Ianto, with a hard stare at Jack that showed the argument would be resumed, said, "She joined us then. Zanthis Yokled."

"An old friend of yours, Jack?" Gwen asked.

"Acquaintance. She came here in the fifties, was on a quest or some such." He gestured to a file on the table. "It's all in there."

Ianto said nothing as Gwen reached for the file, remembering his first sight of Zanthis. She was a striking humanoid: violet hair hung down to her waist and complemented her golden skin and deep blue, almost black, slanted eyes. She had hugged Jack which he had returned with enthusiasm. They clearly knew one another well: Ianto disliked her on principle.

"And she sent the presents. Why?"

"To get my attention. She's trapped there and needs our help to get free. We've got a lot of work to do, kids."

* * *

_Who is the mysterious Zanthis? More tomorrow ... _


	9. 2 January

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

2 January

Ianto walked into the Hub and sighed. The normally cavernous empty space was full of activity and noise: the neighs of the antlered beasts (itzuli from a planet called Wartenen) were like rumblings deep in the earth and more than a hundred birds chirped and squawked loudly behind the extended containment fields that now ran from the armoury to the cog door. The bird droppings and itzuli dung gave off a pungent aroma Ianto could also have done without.

"Need a hand?" asked Jack, striding across the lower level past the itzuli who were corralled around the pool under the eye of a couple of the native herders. He reached to take some of the half-dozen carrier bags Ianto was holding.

"Thanks."

"You didn't have to buy so much. They'll be gone later today."

"If your plan works." They had reached the kitchen and dumped the bags of bird food, nuts and fruit.

"It'll work," replied Jack breezily, moving up behind Ianto and wrapping his arms round his waist. "Then we can do some more … dancing." The innuendo was clear.

Jack had enjoyed having Ianto with him on his jump to the party planet. The Welshman quickly overcame his fear of the unknown and joined in the festivities, even going so far as to wear the clothes of the period. They had gone from one party to another, each marking a different holiday, enjoying the high jinks and alcohol. But after a complete day of it, Zanthis Yokled had made arrangements for her jump and Jack and Ianto had to return to Earth to do their part. They had come back to resume their responsibilities, which both took seriously even if it wasn't obvious in Jack's case.

"I have birds to feed. Where are the other herders?" He stayed in Jack's arms but continued unpacking the bags.

"Taking down the decorations, like you told them." In truth Jack had been busy working on the Rift equations and hadn't seen the herders for a while.

"I don't see them." Ianto twisted out of Jack's arms and went off in search of the wizened little women who acted as milkmaids and herders to the itzuli. "Get your equations sorted," he said over his shoulder. Jack grinned and went to his office; the sooner he got the calculations done, the sooner he could get back to harassing Ianto.

Outside, Gwen was strolling across the Plass, enjoying the crisp morning air and going over the events of the day before. She was delighted to have Jack and Ianto back safe and well and grinned suddenly remembering the sight of them in their hot pants. She hadn't laughed that hard since … since the loss of Owen and Toshiko and the invasion of the Daleks. It had felt so good, and all the better for being shared with Rhys. And it appeared the trip to the source of the gifts had been productive, both in finding a way to deal with them and in helping the trapped sender.

She entered the Hub through the Tourist Office and made the long but familiar journey down into the underground Hub. She winced at the noise levels – the neighs and squawks echoed off the concrete and brick – and looked around. There was no sign of Jack but Ianto was standing looking up at some of the herders who were untangling tinsel from the railings above. Smiling at the memory of him wearing a lot less than he was now she went over to join him.

"Morning, Ianto."

"Oh morning, Gwen." He smiled at her distractedly. "Have to watch these blighters like a hawk. They skive off as soon as my back's turned."

"Right. Back to earth with a bang for you, isn't it? One day travelling through time and the next doing the domestic stuff round here."

"I suppose." Ianto was distracted; one of the herders looked like she was about to fall off the walkway.

Gwen mistook his lack of response for annoyance and put it down to him being forced to accompany Jack. As this was entirely her fault she wasn't surprised he was upset. Not wanting to let any animosity grow – they were too small a team to be divided by hurt feelings – she said, "I'm sorry, Ianto. I shouldn't have done it, I know, but I did it for the best."

"What?" Ianto looked at her quizzically.

"Forcing you to go with Jack. I shouldn't have." She met his gaze resolutely.

"Don't be silly. I enjoyed it in a … strange kind of way." He smiled at her. "I can see why Jack likes it so much. You can pop in and join a whole different life for a few hours then pop out again. We had a great New Year, even in those ridiculous outfits!" They both laughed.

"Surprised you didn't want to stay."

"Got boring after a bit. I missed work."

"What! Don't tell me you and Jack didn't have of fun!"

"A bit," he admitted with a smile.

"Tell me about this Zanthis woman."

"She's … gorgeous." He rolled his eyes. "Don't know any friend of Jack's that isn't!"

Gwen rubbed a hand over his upper arm sympathetically. "But not the love of his life, Ianto. That's you."

"Maybe. Anyway, she's been stuck on the party planet for weeks. Her transmat device blew a gasket or something and she had no way of leaving. So she used the planet's gift mechanism to send the trees to Jack. Took her last credits."

"Why Jack? Surely she knew other people who could help." They were in the work area now where Gwen hung up her jacket.

"She tried them. No response. Jack was her last resort, mainly because she knew his teleport didn't work. But once she found the co-ordinates to fix that, she tried him."

"And he answered. He's a soft touch really." The file on Zanthis had shown how, back in the fifties, Jack had helped her achieve her quest and avoid ending up in UNIT's clutches.

The rest of the morning was taken up with normal tasks until shortly before eleven when the three of them met in the work area. "This is what we do," said Jack. "Ianto, you and Gwen get up top. Zanthis should be somewhere among the chaos. Let me know when you've got her out of the way and everything else is in place and I'll open up the Rift. Everything that's just arrived will be sent on to the new co-ordinates. If that works okay, we can do the stuff down here too."

"How far away from the tower do we have to be?" asked Ianto.

"Four metres. Don't worry, I marked it in blue aerosol on the ground."

"Proper little Banksy, aren't you?" said Gwen.

"How did you guess it was me?"

She pulled a face at him. "Very funny. Come on, Ianto."

The two of them used the Tourist Office door, not wanting to be on the invisible lift when a gift was due to arrive. They jogged round to the Plass and slowed as they approached the water tower, staying outside the blue circle sprayed on the ground all round it. At eleven the area became crowded. The tree was in its accustomed position on the lift with the geese, swans and itzuli encircling it and the tower. In addition today, a formation of scantily-clad women were … pole dancing!

"_Way-hay!"_ came over the comms. _"Get an eyeful of them!"_ shouted Jack.

"Get on with your work, Harkness!" responded Gwen. "Can you see Zanthis?" she asked Ianto.

"There she is." He moved around the dancers towards the itzuli where she was crouched down. "Zanthis, it's okay. You've made it."

"Ianto, it is so good to see you." She clung to him.

"_Oy, leave him alone!" _

"Shut up, Jack. You ready?" Gwen was aware of the people around the Plass and wanted to get rid of the 'gifts' as soon as possible.

"_Yeah. Make her stop." _He sounded like a petulant child.

"Now you know how Ianto feels," Gwen answered unsympathetically. She was pleased to see the couple pull apart and move away from the tower. When they had joined her, she checked once more that all the new arrivals were within the blue circle. "They're all in, Jack. Do it."

For a brief moment the water tower was hidden behind a bright, white light. When it dissipated, only Gwen, Ianto and Zanthis remained. They had found a way to get rid of the gifts.

* * *

_More tomorrow ..._


	10. 3 January

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

3 January

Still only half awake, Ianto forgot he was in Jack's narrow bunk below the office and rolled over, teetering on the edge before realisation hit. He scrabbled backwards just in time to avoid the drop to the hard floor. There was no sign of Jack in the small room and he wondered where he had gone. Smiling as he recalled their gentle love-making of the night before – more adventurous sex had been impossible with Zanthis in the Hub – he checked his watch: 4.16. While sleep beckoned he knew he'd not get any rest until he knew Jack was all right. Slipping on his trousers and shoes, he climbed the ladder up into the office.

The Hub was quieter than it had been in quite a while but not completely so. Jack's manipulation of the Rift had removed most of the gifts that had been arriving over the past few days but not all of them. They had agreed to keep the gold rings, two qerishe trees and two of the squlizee birds, the easiest to look after, and these were now up on the walkway by the hothouse: the birds' contented chirruping could be heard quite clearly. Moving round the desk, Ianto brought up the internal sensors which registered one life form other than his own: Zanthis who had been given a room on a lower level. There were no current alerts so Ianto widened the sensors and picked up Jack outside the Tourist Office. CCTV showed him sitting on a bench.

Wearing his outer coat, Ianto left the relative warmth of the Hub and joined Jack in the chill night. "You okay?" he asked as he sat beside his boss, hands in his pockets to keep them warm.

"Uh-huh. You should be asleep." Jack turned his head and Ianto could see the lazy smile in the dim glow of an overhead light.

"Thought there might have been an alert."

"No. Rift's been quiet this year." He recalled many other Christmases when the team had been run off their feet. Jack returned his gaze to the Bay. The small boats were bobbing on the water, small lights marking their position while behind them the barrage was more brightly lit but silent. It was a beautiful night.

After a few minutes of companionable silence, Ianto asked, "Coming in?"

"Yeah." Standing, Jack reached out and pulled Ianto up. "You've not said much about our little trip. Or about Zanthis."

Ianto shrugged, not meeting Jack's eyes.

"Did you enjoy it?" pressed Jack quietly, arm snaking round his companion.

With a smile that was not entirely genuine, Ianto said, "Yeah."

"I sense a 'but'."

"But," said Ianto, finally looking Jack in the eye, "now your manipulator works again, are you going to be making more trips?" He really hoped not.

Jack laughed softly and held the Welshman close. "Can't. It only worked that one time."

"Really?"

"Really." Jack paused then added, "And even if it did, who says I'd want to go alone?"

Relaxing, Ianto put his arms round Jack inside the greatcoat. "I'd always assumed it only worked for one."

"Does normally. But I can take passengers if necessary." He kissed Ianto's forehead. "And Zanthis? You okay with her?"

"She seems nice enough." The woman had been confined to the Hub by her obvious alien-ness and having her so close to Jack had bothered Ianto at first. But she been friendly to them all, making no particular demands of anyone or making advances to Jack. Ianto didn't dislike her any more but he would still be happier when she'd gone.

"Come on, it's cold and you should get another couple of hours' sleep."

They went back inside where the Hub struck them as particularly stark now the Christmas decorations were gone and the trees and livestock removed. While Ianto returned to the bunk, Jack sat in the office pondering equations on a PDA. They were written in an unusual code, one he had not come across for a long time, and he wanted to be sure they would take Zanthis to a congenial destination. He was still there an hour or so later when she came to join him.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Not bad. Seem to remember having that room last time." She settled in the visitor's chair with her knees folded up to her chest. Her long hair was loose and hung down on each side making a violet frame. "Had any more questers?"

"Not since you." Over lunch with Ianto and Gwen the previous day, they had spoken about her time with Torchwood, laughing over shared memories, before she had brought them up to date with what she had been doing since. Later, Jack had helped with her transmat device, replacing a couple of burnt out components with ones Ianto had located before puzzling over the program code. "I think I've got the co-ordinates you wanted. Take a look." He handed her the PDA and they sat and discussed the equations until Ianto joined them for breakfast.

-ooOoo-

At eleven o'clock the Torchwood team was sitting on the steps by the water tower. With them were Zanthis - cloaked and hooded to disguise her hair and skin colour – and Rhys who had heard about the pole dancers and begged to see them. Jack had put the Rift manipulator on remote so had not had to stay in the Hub this time: he was as anxious as Rhys to get a better look at the dancers.

Gwen huddled into her jacket, cold in the stiff wind blowing across the Plass. "Thought the whole idea of your jaunt was to stop these gifts coming," she muttered.

"Not possible," replied Jack breezily. "Once ordered they can't be rescinded without oodles of paperwork. The party planet's worse than the Assembly! Besides, I want to see the rest of it; it's my present."

"You're a big kid, Jack." He said nothing, just grinned widely.

"Why can't other people see these things?" asked Rhys. He was next to Gwen trying to shield her from the worst of the wind. "I mean, they ignored 'em last time."

"Temporary perception filter," replied Jack, checking the PDA. "Extends just far enough to cloak them for twenty minutes or so. After that, everyone can see them."

"One minute," announced Ianto who was sitting between Gwen and Zanthis. "Are you ready, Jack? We don't want to take chances with this lot. "

"Don't worry. Like I just said, we have at least twenty minutes to enjoy the show!"

"What about the swans? They'll fly off again."

"They're not so different from Earth species." Jack was off-hand, concentrating on the PDA in his hands. "Here we go!"

On the stroke of eleven, the air around the water tower shimmered for a moment and suddenly the area was full of colour and movement. It was hard to know where to look first. The qerishe tree and birds were eclipsed by the sight of the swans swimming gracefully up the tower and the strange itzuli and their handlers. However, Rhys concentrated on the pole dancers, his eyes wide and his mouth falling open as they gyrated around poles that had no visible way of staying upright. Gwen was more interested in the ten naked males leaping around the Plass like Nureyev in his prime; she suddenly felt very warm.

"Whoa, they're fit!" said Jack, also watching the leaping men. They leapt into the air and hovered momentarily about two metres off the ground before twisting in the descent and making a graceful landing.

"Swans are off," reported Ianto. He held his stopwatch, watching the whole scene trying to keep Jack's mind on the business in hand. "It's been five minutes."

"Plenty of time."

"Yeah, plenty," echoed Gwen and Rhys together, gazes fixed on the leaping men and dancing women respectively.

Ianto rolled his eyes and concentrated on the stopwatch. It seemed he was the only one with any sense. The longer they let this continue, the more chance there was of something going wrong. Which is exactly what happened two and a quarter minutes later. The leaping men changed course and began a series of high leaps, heads arched back, and either didn't notice or didn't care that they were headed for the pole dancers. They leapt into the middle of the dancers, knocking the poles down among the itzuli which bucked and neighed in their penetrating way. The birds sent up a chorus of squawks and the geese honked in displeasure.

"Get rid of them, Jack!" yelled Ianto, glaring at him as the chaos continued.

"Okay, okay." He entered the code into the PDA.

Nothing happened.


	11. 4 January

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

4 January

The Rift, which had been relatively inactive over the holiday period, decided to open four times in quick succession overnight. Jack, on his own in the Hub as Zanthis had left and Ianto had declined an invitation to stay, caught the first opening. He combed Roath Park for over an hour before he found all the small creatures that had come through. Before he had a chance to get back to base, the Rift opened again just after midnight. This was a larger incursion in Grangetown and he called in Gwen to assist in dealing with locals whose sleep had been disturbed by the small spacecraft which had crashed into a back garden killing all on board. They had time to get the disabled craft strapped to the roof of the SUV before the next opening occurred. This was a simple pick-up - of something which resembled a pizza – so Gwen dealt with this one.

Jack returned to the base, hauled the spacecraft inside and put the creatures – in his pocket until then - in a box on his desk. He had just heard from Gwen that she had the 'pizza' when the Rift opened for the fourth time in less than seven hours. Both of them went to Riverside where more space junk had been deposited, this time on a school playing field. It was gone seven o'clock before they finished collecting the debris and wearily headed back to the Hub.

"_I'm starved,"_ said Gwen over the comms from her car which was following the SUV. _"Let's stop for something to eat." _

"Good idea. How about Mario's?"

"_Fine. See you there." _

Mario's was a popular hang-out for people in their way to work and parking was at a premium. Gwen found a space just big enough for her car but Jack had to park a couple of streets away: sometimes the SUV's bulk was a disadvantage. Inside the café was warm and welcoming and they settled at a table for two and ordered a full English breakfast with mugs of tea.

"You told Ianto where we are?" she asked, leaning back in the chair.

"Not had time. Why don't you do it?"

She sighed, reached for her mobile and made the call. She got voicemail – he was probably in the shower or driving into work – so she left a message and closed the phone. "What is it with you two? You never seem to get on for more than a couple of days at a time."

He shrugged. "Don't ask me. He's the one that got into a huff."

The food arrived at this time and Gwen waited until the waitress had left before continuing the conversation. As she poured ketchup, she said, "Well, you did make a pig's ear of things yesterday."

"Not my fault the hot guys got in amongst the pole dancers. I didn't make them." He cut into his sausage and stuffed a large piece in his mouth. "They did that all on their own," he mumbled.

"But you could, no, you should have sent them on their way before that."

"Huh! I remember you agreeing there was plenty of time." He glared at her.

"Because I assumed you'd done a decent job with the remote. Fancy forgetting to charge it!" She put a forkful of bacon and baked beans into her mouth and chewed.

"How was I to know it wasn't charged properly? Ianto's getting slapdash."

"And you wonder why he's mad at you?" She rolled her eyes, not wanting an answer. "Telling him that was not a good move, Jack."

"It's his job to keep the equipment ready for whenever we need it. It should have been charged."

"That is so unfair." She laid down her fork and glared at him. "He does more that we do to keep the place running, including cleaning up the mess after all those birds and itzuli. There are only so many hours in the day, and he works almost all of them. It's about time you appreciated him more." Jack refused to respond, keeping his head down and concentrating on his meal.

After a moment, Gwen shook her head and sighed heavily before starting to eat again. Both men were pig-headed and she was getting tired of their little spats. If she could, she'd lock them in a cell together until they worked out their differences once and for all but she couldn't, they were too small a team. And perhaps that added to the stresses on Jack and Ianto. With only three of them they got on one another's nerves more often. She had the luxury of being able to go home to Rhys and get away from it all, even if it was only for a few hours, while Jack and Ianto were together – mostly in the Hub – constantly. And, she admitted, they took more of the call-outs to give her some semblance of a private life. It was a mess she didn't see a way of resolving unless Jack recruited more people, and none of them were ready for that yet.

Elsewhere in Cardiff, Ianto listened to the message from Gwen after parking his car. He was surprised but grateful that Jack had not called him in to deal with the Rift openings; the full night's sleep had done him good. They all three of them worked such long hours that they were constantly tired, or at least Gwen and he were. Lack of sleep didn't seem to affect Jack so much. With a sigh, Ianto walked into the Hub and began his usual cleaning routine. As he worked he considered his relationship with his boss, wondering at the way it went from close and loving to hostile in a blink of an eye. It was all because they cared for one another too much, he decided; a single word of criticism hurt deeply. He wondered if they would ever find the kind of give-and-take that Gwen and Rhys had achieved. _If we have time, maybe we will_, he thought as he headed into the work area.

Gwen arrived at the Hub first and waited for Jack to catch up. They walked into the Hub carrying two boxes of space debris and the 'pizza'. "Put them here for now," said Jack, indicating the half-moon bench. "I'll go through them later then Ianto can archive them." He looked round and saw Ianto standing in the office doorway facing him. "Hey, Ianto, any chance of a coffee?"

The Welshman did not reply.

"Are you not talking to me now?" Jack went on, climbing the steps to the work area.

"Can't move," whispered Ianto, pulling a face.

"What?" Jack moved closer and noticed Ianto's suit was … moving. "Oh my," he said, smiling.

"What's going on?" asked Gwen, joining them. "Ugh, what are they!" she shrieked taking a step backwards.

"They're harmless. Hold still and I'll get them off you. Gwen, get a containment box. One with a lid. "

In a few minutes, the hundreds of small caterpillar-like creatures had been removed from Ianto who sagged with relief, right into Jack's arms. Gwen made sure the box was secure before going to her own desk; she expected her colleagues to disappear into the archives very soon, that's where they usually went to make up.

-ooOoo-

At eleven o'clock the three of them were on the Plass ready for the penultimate gift to arrive. Jack and Ianto were back on good terms and had ensured the PDA with the remote Rift control was working properly so they wouldn't have the same fiasco as yesterday when Jack had had to sprint into the Hub while all hell broke loose above him.

"Is it ready?" asked Ianto, stopwatch in hand.

"Uh-huh. And I'll use it soon as we've confirmed they're all in place." Jack tried his best to look contrite but it was hard for him.

"What's coming today?" Gwen was stood beside Ianto leaning back against the railing. "New, I mean."

"Eleven pipers," supplied Ianto. "They should be here … now!"

The air shimmered again and the panoply of gifts appeared around the water tower in an instant. Gwen's eyes went immediately to the leaping naked men, once again admiring their physiques. Jack watched them too, but was also drawn to the scantily-clad pole dancers. Then the distinctive, lilting sound of panpipes reached them all, played by eleven men and women clad in colourful ponchos and small black hats who were sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Oh, is that it?" Jack was disappointed having expected bagpipes played by men in kilts.

"At least they're sitting down," commented Ianto dryly. "Come on, time to get rid of them before those leaping lords get up to their tricks."

"Okay, here goes." Jack entered the relevant code and suddenly the Plass was empty once more.

"Time for coffee." Ianto went to the invisible lift but his two colleagues paused before following, sorry the day's display had ended so soon.

* * *

_Final chapter tomorrow ..._


	12. 5 January

**The Twelve Days of Christmas**

5 January

Jack liked staying at Ianto's flat. It reflected its owner's dual nature with hidden depths behind a façade of neatness and order. On previous visits, by delving into cupboards when Ianto wasn't looking, Jack had discovered untidy stacks of mementoes ranging from childhood toys through CDs (relics of a teenage obsession with Britney Spears and Westlife) to photographs of Lisa and friends at Torchwood One. This morning, with Ianto still sleeping, Jack was returning the Dinky cars he'd been playing with when he found a yoyo. Back in the twenties he had become pretty good with yoyos, being able to 'rock the baby' and 'walk the dog' with ease. But his favourite had always been ' round the world' and he decided to try the trick now. Moving into the centre of the room to avoid the furniture, he let it go and the yoyo swung round in a circle beside him before returning to his hand. He was so pleased with himself he did it again. And again.

"Be careful," mumbled Ianto walking through the room towards the kitchen. "And put things back tidily."

After one more trick – the 'flying saucer' – Jack put the yoyo back on the shelf but in a more prominent position; he would be playing with it again when he had time. Following Ianto into the kitchen, he asked, "You knew I'd found your toys?"

"Umm." Ianto yawned as he loaded beans into the coffee machine. "You left a couple of the cars under the sofa."

"That's my garage."

"Thought it might be." Ianto looked over his shoulder at Jack and smiled indulgently then winced. Sex with Jack was invariably satisfying but did leave a number of painful bruises. Strange to think that the man who thought up such … avant-garde sexual games could also happily play with toy cars.

Jack moved closer and lightly kissed the side of Ianto's neck. "Was I a bit too energetic last night?"

"Not really. Here, drink this."

The two men stood in the kitchen drinking the first coffee of the day and eating a piece of toast each then Ianto went to wash and dress while Jack, who had already dressed, checked the local news. The reports of random vandalism and a local firm going bust were standard fare, there was nothing about strange happenings in Roald Dahl Plass. He hadn't expected any – the perception filter usually worked well – but liked to check just in case.

The two men were in the Hub at eight o'clock and started the round of normal duties. They were at their desks when Gwen arrived an hour later, rested after an uninterrupted night's sleep which had helped make up for what she had lost the previous day.

"Anything happening?" she asked, sticking her head into the office.

"Not so far." Jack smiled a welcome. "I'm still waiting for the end-of-year stats."

"Ohh," she groaned, shoulders slumping. "Maybe I'll go and prod the Rift, see what happens."

"Please don't," said Ianto coming up behind her, mugs of coffee on a silver tray. "I think we deserve a nice quiet day."

"Except for my present," put in Jack with a delighted grin, taking the coffee Ianto handed him. "Got drummers today."

"I know." The roll of the eyes and weary sigh made Ianto's views on the subject very clear.

"And those tasty leaping lords," added Gwen, feeling better already. She made for her desk, taking her coffee with her.

Jack called after her. "No looking unless you get the stats done!"

She pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at him in reply. Jack responded by putting his thumbs in his ears and waggling his fingers while also sticking out his tongue. The two of them continued in this vein for several minutes.

"I sometimes think I'm the only adult here," remarked Ianto as he left the office, ignoring both his colleagues.

-ooOoo-

"Time to get ready, Ianto," said Jack. It was ten to eleven and he was checking over the PDA one last time.

"Okay." Ianto, marking up papers for filing, kept his head down and continued to work.

"Now, Ianto!"

"All right!" The Welshman scowled at him and made a point of marking his place. "Everything working properly?"

"Didn't we prove that last night?"

Gwen, seated at her desk between the two of them, groaned loudly. "I think I like it better when you're mad at one another." She swivelled in her chair to face Jack who was standing near the medical bay entrance. "Stats are done! Just emailed them to you."

"About time. And I guess that means you get to see the pretty boys today." They shared a grin.

Ianto had put on his own raincoat and handed Gwen hers. "Bit cold and wet for them today. Won't see much."

"Cold has that effect on all you men," complained Gwen, shrugging into her jacket.

"Not on me," boasted Jack, slipping an arm into the greatcoat that Ianto held up for him. "Why only the other night Ianto and I were up on the roof and – "

"Jack!" Ianto didn't have to say any more.

The three of them made for the invisible lift, keen to get to the Plass before the gift arrived. As they travelled upwards, Jack leant down and whispered loudly in Gwen's ear, "It didn't. Can't say the same for Ianto."

"I'm going to push you off if you don't shut up," said Ianto with stern finality.

"Wouldn't dare."

"Would."

"Wouldn't."

Ianto stopped himself responding; he was getting as childish as them. The lift reached the Plass and clunked into place.

"Pity the perception filter doesn't keep off the rain," complained Gwen, walking to the railings a safe distance away.

"Here, share this." Ianto courteously held the golfing umbrella over her head as well as his own.

"Cheers."

"Room for me too?" asked Jack, squeezing in close on Ianto's other side. "Isn't this cosy?"

"Ten fifty nine," reported Ianto ignoring the comment. "Got the PDA ready?"

Jack let out a heavy sigh and said, "Yes."

A minute later the gifts appeared. For the last time (he hoped), Ianto looked at the qerishe tree containing the half dozen birds, the chickens tied to its foot. The gold rings glinted through the foliage when a branch moved in the wind. By the water tower, the geese were laying their eggs in the shadow of the swans a-swimming and close to the itzuli being milked by the small female herders. The pole dancers were there again, gyrating provocatively, and the lords leapt around definitely not affected by the cold and wet. The pan pipers must have been playing but any sound was drowned out by the twelve steel drummers pounding out a rhythm on the large cut-off oil drums.

"Noisy lot," said Jack, shouting to be heard above the din. "Here goes." He activated the program and in an instant the whole kit and caboodle disappeared and peace was restored once more.

"I'm going in," said Gwen, making for the lift.

"Okay, we won't be long." Jack had a hand on Ianto's elbow, holding him back.

The two men watched Gwen descend before Jack steered Ianto down the sloping Plass to the Bay. They didn't speak as they strolled down, close together under the umbrella, until they reached the water's edge where they stopped.

"It's over then."

"Yep. Back to the boring routine."

Ianto turned to face Jack. "Is that what you think this is? Boring?"

A slow smile started and grew into a broad grin. "Nothing's ever boring with you, Ianto. Now, come here and give me a kiss."

They stood under the blue and white striped umbrella and kissed long and deep before linking arms and strolling to the Tourist Office and the continuing work of Torchwood.

* * *

_And that's it, all over. My thanks to all those who've taken the time to read this - Jay. _


End file.
